I Die Free
by HyperCaz
Summary: The one thing that kept Kawalsky fighting the Goa'uld's control was a simple, recent memory...


It was the one memory he could hold onto and remain sane. The one thing that kept him fighting, though he was powerless to stop his hands wrapping around the Jaffa's throat. Charlie Kawalsky didn't know why it was that memory sustaining him. It should have been the day he gained a little sister, or the day he'd helped save the Abydonians.

And it had only happened the other day...

* * *

Kawalsky sauntered down the corridor to the cafeteria. Having taking an aspirin for the migraine he'd acquired the day before, he was safely able to make the betting pool possible. Armed with twenty bucks and a debonair grin, he entered the half empty cafeteria triumphantly.

One of his team half rose to greet him, a container of Jell-O wobbling in his outstretched hand.

"So are we still on, O great CO?" He wanted to know immediately.

"Don't doubt me," Kawalsky said solemnly and laid out the twenty dollar note, "But are you?"

He took a seat across from two other members of SG2. Already there were other Stargate Command denizens joining the table, joining the fray. It was not a secret gathering, afterall. Luckily, word had not reached the ears of their two victims.

Gary, the alternate technician, argued immediately that there was no chance on Earth that there was chemistry between the two of them. He insisted,

"Colonel O'Neill has no concept of laboratory chemistry, let alone human chemistry."

"Well they won't be on Earth all the time!" Rebuked a female doctor with an attractive face, name tag reading Dr. Fraiser, "Untrained in the art of realising chemistry the Colonel may be, but there is some biological attraction, mark my words."

The technician tried to ignore what she had said, but no one seemed to want to listen to him anymore. Gary slunk off into the shadows, forever to be known as...Chevron guy. Everyone was interested in this Dr. Fraiser because she was new. She explained that it was an orientation week for her, that she wouldn't be coming back until next Wednesday and could they all stop asking if she'd like them to drop around the infirmary please?

A wag whispered loudly,

"I vote we set up a voting poll on who gets with her."

Kawalsky almost winced as the female doctor delivered a well placed kidney punch. He sent the wag to get a new batch of Jell-O. More notes and coins found their way on the table. Dr. Frasier rested her chin in her hands,

"I say roughly half a year before either makes a move. But, it will be under the influence of something."

"Whatever you say, Doc," Kawalsky said dismissively, "I make it three to four years to get a kiss in without and influence, but afterwards they'll both avoid that kinda thing and want to forget it. When the Regs are changed, _then_ they can do something about it."

"_If_ the Regs are changed," Feretti laughed.

Kawalsky countered this much to the amusement of the table,

"_When!_ The General of this facility is a nice guy, literally has the ear of the President and keeps patting that lovely red telephone."

Doctor Frasier snorted, very un-lady like. Everyone fell respectively silent – her words seemed like gold. She tucked a stray auburn lock behind her left ear,

"The likelihood of that happening is slim. But if they truly wish to chase up any human chemistry and/or biological attraction, Sam could easily resign her Air Force commission and be listed as a doctor."

"You called her Sam," Noted Kawalsky.

"Naturally," The doctor replied, "I've known her since high school."

A splitting pain exploded behind Kawalsky's eyes. He blinked quickly and gulped down the glass of water in front of him. He was able to ignore the stabbing twinge enough to say,

"I'm betting twenty whole bucks on what I've just said. In three to four years, there might be a kiss. When the Regs change they'll get together."

A booming announcement shook the cafeteria so much that the plates rattled. The female technician's voice said calmly,

"Major Kawalsky to the control room."

This did nothing to help Kawalsky's headache. He got up to leave. Feretti latched onto the cuff on his uniform,

"How can you be so certain?"

"Call it...intuition," Kawalsky smirked and walked away.

"See ya round, Charlie."

This sentiment was echoed several times. Chevron guy was seen pigging into blue Jell-O, looking lonely and lost. Doc Fraiser had to ward off several men and Feretti winked at her suggestively but not enough to earn a kidney punch. When she left the room, she strode past Kawalsky berating on how the SGC had a betting pool going for her and some archaeologist guy she'd never met.

"Apparently he sneezes a lot!" She exploded.

Charlie Kawalsky laughed so hard that, for a moment, his ribs hurt more than his head. He'd have to check the compatibility between her and Dr. Jackson later on his love calculator. But for now, duty called. Maybe he'd take another aspirin...or visit the infirmary for something stronger...

* * *

Kawalsky wished vehemently that he was back in the cafeteria setting up betting pools. He desperately tried willing his arms to slacken. He didn't want to hurt Teal'c. It sickened him that this..._parasite_...had taken him over, could view his thoughts. The Jaffa gained the upper hand briefly.

_There you go you son of a bitch_, Kawalsky thought freely, _Teal'c can lay a smack down on your ass any day._

_Quiet, human_, The Goa'uld ordered in a hiss.

Suddenly the one voice that Charlie wanted to hear burst through the Gate room –

"Teal'c! Hold him there!"

The coolness of the Stargate's event horizon enveloped the back of his head. Kawalsky realised what was going to happen. He couldn't fight his fate, just as he couldn't fight the parasite.

_I die free._

_But your friends will not!_ Growled the parasite.

Kawalsky squinted past Teal'c to the control room window. He saw Jack O'Neill staring without distraction at him. Kawalsky pictured the astrophysicist next to him, holding his hand.

_I'm right about that, I know it, _He thought, the world in slow motion, _Too bad I won't be around to see it..._

Suddenly the Stargate deactivated. Kawalsky had the haunted look on his friend's face plastered in his mind...he drifted away from the physical world. He even saw himself lying limply on the ground. Watching, Kawalsky saw the parasite fall away.

_I died free._


End file.
